Orioles (Final) Prospect HOTSHEET: August

The end isn't near. The end is here. The minor league regular seasons have come to a conclusion for the six affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles.

Here are their final records:

Norfolk: 65-79

Bowie: 72-70

Frederick: 65-72

Delmarva: 66-73

Aberdeen: 27-48

GCL Orioles: 29-31

Stating the obvious, none of the these teams qualified for the playoffs, unfortunately. Winning teams are nice but player development is the ultimate focus on the minor league squads. I'd like to think that progress was made in that area when you consider the breakout performances of prospects such as Dariel Alvarez, Christian Walker, Chance Sisco, Mike Yastrzemski, Zach Davies, Steven Brault, and others.

As we bid farewell to the minor league baseball season, let's take a look at which prospects down on the farm finished the strongest down the stretch.

1) Mike Wright - RHP - Norfolk Tides (AAA)

Age: 24

OH Prospect Rank: 8

August Numbers:

GS

W

L

ERA

IP

H

HR

BB

K

AVG

GB%

FIP

5

2

2

0.76

35.1

22

0

8

27

.176

33.3%

2.35

Wright had nothing short of a miraculous turnaround in the month of August after a dismal performance on the mound for most of the season. He did outstanding work on the mound for the Tides down the stretch and flirted with a no-hitter in two of his most recent outings, falling just one pitch shy of a no-no in one of them.

2) Jomar Reyes - 3B - GCL Orioles (R)

Age: 17

OH Prospect Rank: UR

August Numbers:

G

AVG

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

OBP

SLG

OPS

21

.338

71

24

7

0

2

17

6

13

.378

.521

.899

The youngster finished off the Summer on an impressive note and definintely looks like a name of interest to monitor closely going forward. I'm curious to see if/where he lands on the BA top 20 prospects list for the GCL and what they have to say about him.

3) Brian Gonzalez - LHP - GCL Orioles (R)

Age: 18

OH Prospect Rank: UR

August Numbers:

GS

W

L

ERA

IP

H

HR

BB

K

AVG

GB%

FIP

4

0

1

0.96

18.2

10

0

3

21

.156

53.5%

1.75

Here's another teenager who had an impressive debut this Summer. Like Reyes, I'm interested to see if he crack the BA top 20 list for the GCL.

4) Steven Brault - LHP - Frederick Keys (A+)

Age: 22

OH Prospect Rank: 12

August Numbers:

GS

W

L

ERA

IP

H

HR

BB

K

AVG

GB%

FIP

5

4

1

1.16

31

21

0

7

20

.191

52.2%

2.59

I've been pleaing for Brault to get the bump up to the Keys for several months now and he finally did in August. He didn't miss a beat, naturally.

5) Dariel Alvarez - CF - Norfolk Tides (AAA)

Age: 25

OH Prospect Rank: 8

August Numbers:

G

AVG

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

OBP

SLG

OPS

30

.310

116

36

12

2

1

13

7

20

.350

.474

.920

Alvarez capped off an impressive season with a strong finish in August. He's without a doubt a top ten prospect in the system now and could be a contributor real soon for the Orioles in 2015.

6) Chance Sisco - C - Delmarva Shorebirds (A)

Age: 19

OH Prospect Rank: 3

August Numbers:

G

AVG

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

OBP

SLG

OPS

27

.327

101

33

6

1

1

13

8

19

.378

.436

.814

Sisco had a sensational year with the bat and August was no different. In cas you haven't heard, this kid can hit and took down the Low A batting title with a .340 average on the season. Now, if his catching defense comes around, we may have something special.

7) Stephen Tarpley - LHP - Aberdeeen Ironbirds (A-)

Age: 21

OH Prospect Rank: 11

August Numbers:

GS

W

L

ERA

IP

H

HR

BB

K

AVG

GB%

FIP

5

2

3

2.56

31.2

30

2

8

28

.265

60.2%

3.29

Tarpley's overall performance with the Ironbirds had been plagued by inconsistency heading into August but he really turned things around to finish the season. This live armed lefty and former 3rd round pick could be primed for a breakout season in 2015 if his August performace is any indicator.

8) Zach Davies - RHP - Bowie Baysox (AA)

Age: 21

OH Prospect Rank: 5

August Numbers:

GS

W

L

ERA

IP

H

HR

BB

K

AVG

GB%

FIP

5

3

1

3.38

26.2

29

1

4

28

.271

48.8%

2.15

Davies doesn't light up radar guns but he continued to display outstanding control of his four-pitch mix which features a plus changeup. He passed the AA test with relative ease this year and looks like one of better pitching prospects in the system, despite the lack of hype.

9) Henry Urrutia - LF - Norfolk Tides

Age: 26

OH Prospect Rank: 13

August Numbers:

G

AVG

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

OBP

SLG

OPS

26

.310

100

31

4

1

0

9

1

23

.317

.370

.687

Urrutia had a pretty disappointing season overall that saw him miss a significant chunk of time due to abdominal surgery. He did finish the season on somehwhat of a high note but the lack of home runs hit in August still suggests he has trouble tapping into his impressive raw power.

10) Tyler Wison - RHP - Norfolk Tides (AAA)

Age: 24

OH Prospect Rank: 24

August Numbers:

GS

W

L

ERA

IP

H

HR

BB

K

AVG

GB%

FIP

5

2

2

3.21

28.

21

4

8

28

.204

35.5%

3.91

Wilson's solid and steady performance continued in August and he finished the season with a 14-8 record, 3.67 ERA in 166.2 innings while striking out 157. Those numbers garnered him the Jim Palmer award for Orioles minor league pitcher of the year.

11) Sebastian Vader - RHP - Frederick Keys (A+)

Age: 22

OH Prospect Rank: UR

August Numbers:

GS

W

L

ERA

IP

H

HR

BB

K

AVG

GB%

FIP

5

2

1

2.17

29

19

0

13

22

.181

47.6%

4.48

Vader's control problems continued in August but he showed a much improved performance on the mound for the Keys then his previous month.

12) Alex Murphy - C - Aberdeen Ironbirds (A-)

Age: 19

OH Prospect Rank: 23

August Numbers:

G

AVG

AB

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

K

OBP

SLG

OPS

13

.318

44

14

3

0

0

6

5

14

.375

.386

.761

Murphy's season ended early so this is only a half-month's work but he had been swinging a hot bat before going down with a left shoulder injury.

The Not Sheet…Uh Oh…

Adrian Marin - SS - High A - .217/.287/.359 with 2 HR's in 100 PA's - Marin has a promising glove at short but showed very little with the bat in August, which has been the case unfortunately for most of the year.

Parker Bridwell - RHP - High A - 2-3, 5.54 ERA, .188 AVG - So, the maddeningly inconsistent Bridwell did hold hitters to a dominant .188 average this month, but continued to show command issues and allow big innings from time to time.

Michael Ohlman - C - AA - .228/.319/.278 with 0 HR in 90 PA's - Ohlman's disappointing AA campaign continued in August. He finished with just two home runs on the season and has likely fallen out of the top ten prospects in the system.

I still like this guy as a possible late bloomer down the road. He has raw power that he hasn't tapped into yet and has always shown a patient approach to the plate with low strikeout rates. He finally started to hit consistently over the last two months and could be a possible breakout candidate next year.